Two years old

Just a few quick thoughts...

Lizzie is two years old today.  She's not a baby anymore.  She's such a little miracle to us with all the progress she's made, despite what the doctors told us her future would be.  I am so grateful that I get sweet kisses and snuggles from this little girl.  I am so blessed to see this smile every single day:

Speech

Lizzie's occupational therapist and case manager were here today from Infant/Toddler Services.  They were very impressed with all the progress she's made and with how well she's doing.  They did her six-month review for their files, and it was decided that Lizzie's therapy for the time being will focus on speech.  Her motor skills are coming along very well, but the OT will come out again if needed.  The OT did suggest that we might have her vision checked since she still has a little trouble transitioning between surfaces of different textures.  We'll ask our pediatrician for a referral when we go for her 2-year checkup in a couple of weeks.

Now Speech will increase to a couple of times a month, and we will hopefully see some big gains in that area.  Lizzie tries so hard to communicate, and she is doing better.  She makes sounds for words that we understand, although the casual listener might not have any idea what she's talking about.  It's very clear that she understands everything we're saying to her; she just isn't always able to reciprocate.  Sometimes we even get tantrums when she can't get her point across.  Part of that is just her age, I'm sure, but I think part of it is frustration.  Hopefully the increase in speech therapy time will help us all out!

Walking for epilepsy awareness

We are participating in the St. Louis Epilepsy Walk/Run on June 22nd.  Please consider making a donation to the Epilepsy Foundation so that they can continue their great work for those living with epilepsy!  Also, if you'd like to come walk or run with us, we'd love to have you join us.

Here's a link to my page with more information:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/BethanyScheppele/SeizeTheDaySTL

MRI

Lizzie had her MRI appointment today.  They're looking for anything in her brain that they might not have seen on the last MRI she had when she was three months old, anything that might give them a reason why she was having seizures.  If they find something, like a lesion or other abnormality, depending on what it is or where it is, they might be able to do surgery to remove it.  I am NOT excited about the idea of my baby having brain surgery, but if it would permanently cure her epilepsy, maybe it would be for the best.  Regardless, I'm getting ahead of myself.  If she needs surgery, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Lizzie had to be under anesthesia for the MRI, so we were a little nervous about that, but everything went really well.  She came out of the anesthesia fine, and the nurses gave her apple juice and crackers and a stuffed bunny.  Now Lizzie's just groggy and cranky.  If an adult has general anesthesia and then goes home the same day, odds are he or she will probably just go to bed and take it easy for the rest of the day.  Try explaining to your 20-month-old that she should rest quietly on the couch for the day.  It doesn't work!  She's been staggering around like a little drunk person.

I'll update this post when we hear results from the doctors early next week.


Update 4/1/13
Neuro just called. Lizzie's MRI was normal- they didn't see any lesions or other abnormalities, so we are to continue as we have been doing and see the dr. again in 6 months.  Hooray!

Snowy day

We saw Lizzie's "substitute" neurologist today.  He would like to get an MRI sometime in the next few weeks to check on her brain, which is no surprise; they had told us a while back that they would probably do one when she was getting closer to 2 years old.  The MRI she had in September 2011 didn't show anything, but they want to see if, now that her brain is more developed, there will be any lesions or other abnormalities they couldn't see before.  Overall, the neurologist thinks she is still doing well and making good progress.  He even said that if she is able to go two years seizure-free, they might talk about weaning her off her medication!

Lizzie was also supposed to have occupational therapy and begin speech therapy today; however, due to the several inches of snow that were dumped on us overnight, those appointments got canceled.  This weather is crazy!  What should have been 8-10 minutes to drive home from the doctor's appointment was an hour and 10 minutes, plus another 45 minutes to get the car up the driveway.